Fita 500 noisy waste gate - normal?

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Fita 500 noisy waste gate - normal?

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Sep 27, 2011
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Telford, \Shropshire
Hi, I'm a newbie on this site although I have owned Fiats for many years, I think the first was about 1985ish when I bought a Fiat Uno. My wife now has a Fiat 500 diesel which she bought new in January 2010 and she loves it. However, one thing that drives me mad is a 'rattle' when changing gear. When I got the garage to look at this we went for a test drive and the guy told me it was the wastegate (dump valve?) and is pefectly normal for these cars.

Now I'm not sure if I'm being taken for a mug so is anyone able to confim if 500 diesels normally make this sound? If not then does anyone know what is causing the problem?
 
Hi Steve, the noise you are probably hearing is a result of changing the clutch hydraulic system to work on RHD cars. This debate started in 2008 and Fiat garages were originally changing clutches and transmissions to get rid of the noise without any results. Several of us created such fuss with Fiat that they sent one of their roving techs to investigate.

He discovered that fitting a damper into the hydraulic flexible pipe cured the problem and eventually a kit was produced to remedy the problem. Fiat issued a TSB but never recalled any cars but left it to the dealerships to fit them only if a customer complained, which you have.

However, it is my experience that very few garages have techs who are aware of this problem and because of their lack of knowledge just say the first thing that comes into their heads and always seem to follow it up by saying that it is "a characteristic of the car" or "it's quite normal" etc. etc.

Take a look at this thread to see if it is the same problem as you have and if so I suggest you print out the relevant parts along with the photos of the replacement parts and take it along to the Fiat dealership.

Good luck and let us know how you get on. (y)
 
Brilliant Grimwau (y) that's exactly the noise I'm experiencing, and very well described in that first post. I've extracted the relevant bits in to a Word document ready to be printed off next time the car goes in to the dealer, which could be a while but I will report back.
 
The car had to go in yesterday for an oil change (less than 6k miles since the last change!) so I asked about this noise problem. I was greeted with a blank expression and "never heard of that one before". I began telling them how I had researched this via the inet, in partcular the Fiat forum, when a service guy happened to walk past and over hear what I was saying.

He said he had seen this problem once before at another branch and Fiat had reluctantly allowed the part to be fitted. He said Fiat still don't recognise this as a known fault but said he would make enquiries for me. The upshot is that he has ordered the part and wil let me know when it's in stock. Top marks to this particular guy. I'll keep you posted of progress.
 
It is really frustrating that some of the techs never seem to read any of the Technical Service Bulletins that they get sent.

Glad you managed to find someone who was a bit more on the ball and hopefully it will get sorted out quickly.
 
Finally got the 500 to the garage to have the part fitted. The first attempt was aborted as the new part was damaged (not complaining as these things do happen) and the replacement was received on Thursday and fitted yesterday (Friday) which I was quite impressed with as I usually have to wait a few days for non-urgent repairs. The good news is the fix has worked and I now have a quiet gear change at last.

Anyone with the same problem should insist on the fix. I was orginally fobbed off twice by mechanics obviously not knowing what they are talking about! Get yourself a printout of this thread, along with the one mentioned at the top of this discussion, and take it along to the garage to add weight to your argument. You could probably also quote T.J. Vickers in Telford as that is the garage that fixed the problem.

Thanks Grimwau for your help :slayer:(y)
 
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